The event’s organizers will send you an email on the next few days explaining how to register.

If you were not the lucky winner but are interested in attending this amazing event, we still have four 20% discounts available here. All you have to do is leave a comment on the link’s post until August 18. It’s as simple as that.

I will send the registration link to all ten winners of the discount by email soon.

Are you lost and have absolutely no idea what we are talking about? Click on the link above for more information.

Thank you all for participating! And a special thanks to the amazing women behind ConVTI, Gio Lester and Márcia Nabrzecki, for coming up with the event, organizing it and offering us the free registration and discounts. You rock!

1.I have to start by mentioning I absolutely loved your website! How creative to add a video to the landing page! Do you think your video attracts more people (especially potential clients) to your website and somehow make them navigate through it to learn more about yourself?

I don’t necessarily think about attracting more people to my website, I think that if they are already there, it means they found me in some way (probably via social media). I like playing with the web – I make my own websites (I have to thank Squarespace for offering such fantastic tools to play with) – and I am interested in how people interact online. So, to me, it is a matter of expressing my own creativity and offering as much interesting content as possible throughout the online spaces I inhabit.

2.On your website, you mention you “have started working with video to explore the links between literature and images.” How does that work?

Although I mostly work with words – as a writer, as a literary translator, as an editor – I am passionate about visual media, and am especially interested in the interaction between writing and images. That’s why I’m into comics, into screenwriting, and that is also why I started to create my own visual language through video. You don’t need much material nowadays to capture high quality images, so it is all about your eye: what do you see, what stories do you want to tell. I was inspired to start my YouTube videos thanks to French writer François Bon who has been creating a wide range of videos on his YouTube channel to talk about literature – he does readings (he is an amazing performer), hosts writing workshops, has a regular “service de presse” where he shares other writer’s work and much more – so I have joined this online community of literature makers he has created on YouTube (I know he probably won’t like me saying he created it, but he did). I have to admit, it is motivating to have an audience ready to watch what you are doing (even if very small, also, it depends how you look at it: I don’t think I could easily fill a room with 100 people which I am doing with a video and I think is amazing). I’ve been told I have an artistic approach to translation, so I think my video-making is also part of that urge to create. I see the world in a certain manner, I am inspired, visually, by the world that surrounds me, so I try to capture how I feel about it, and then edit it into short videos. It isn’t so different than writing actually, it’s all about stories you want to tell. I’m just using a different medium to do so.

3. You also mention “Translation off the page” is one of your favorite topics. Could you elaborate, and tell us why you like it so much?

I have to admit I do more translation work “off the page” than “on the page”. To start, I am not earning all my income from translation – if I would do that, I’d need to translate a few more books per year, which I don’t. This is a personal and deliberate choice, and I have many reasons for it. I am a hyperactive person (people who know me reading this will probably laugh now nodding) and I get bored very quickly when I translate, not because of the work – 90% of the time, I select what I want to work on so I usually love what I translate – but I am a slow translator, I usually don’t work on more than four pages in a day, and I am drained after, not just intellectually but emotionally. You see, I pour all my heart into a translation project, it is not just a job to me. This is why I am also picky with the projects I choose to work on. I recently accepted to translate work I have not chosen myself, and I regretted it.

To me, translating someone’s work means that I believe not only in their literary merits, but in their voice, as a person, as an artist, what they stand for.

I don’t separate the work from the artist. I am not talking about character here, I don’t care how nice or (un)friendly a writer is, I am talking about sincerity and values someone stands for. So, if at any point I feel my values are not aligned with an author’s, I cannot translate them. You have to remember that out of all the languages I could have translated from (I was trained to work in English, Spanish, French), I chose to focus on Turkish (the language my parents spoke to me in) and contemporary literatures from Turkey, and in the current political context, there is no way I can be apolitical about my choices. I guess this kind of “off the page” work is close to what one could call activism. Other types of “off the page” work I do is through workshops, and the idea behind these activities is to give tools to people – children, young people, adults – to play with languages and be creative using their own existing linguistic skills. I always start my workshops by asking participants about the languages in their lives – not how many languages they speak, read or write, but which languages surround them daily – by framing the question in this way, I already tell them: see, multilingualism is all around us, and we are all experiencing it, in one way or the other.

4.Could you tell us a bit about your project City in Translation, and pinpoint one or two fascinating aspects about it that you have come across during your exploration?

City in Translation is part of my work taking translation off the page. It started from my own urban explorations – I am what you can call a “flâneuse” – I like walking across cities. I do this a lot, and I don’t mean just walking from one place to another, it is a practice I am very attached to. Wherever I go, I always set aside some time to do these city walks by myself, camera in hand, without any specific purpose. I am interested in interacting with everything that surrounds me in cities, especially through translation. This means that I look at written words mostly (I could work on sound, but I haven’t focused on that yet), I search for the traces we are leaving across urban spaces, usually in many different languages. Sometimes I understand the languages, sometimes I don’t. It is one way to observe the world we live in. Through this process, I also learn so much about the different cities I walk in. Languages can tell you about the history of a neighbourhood, about its demographics, about the political context, and much more… So, I use this personal and artistic practice to develop content, like I did with the Yearning for Turkish exhibition I created and which was shown in St Andrews and in Norwich, and the various workshops I do with City in Translation. With Yearning for Turkish, I realised that this constant search for languages across cities was also one way for me to find “home” – my understanding of home being in movement, even if I keep seeing one of my main languages – Turkish – everywhere I go.

5.As a social media lover myself, I am also widely present on different social channels, and I am frequently asked how I find time to juggle them and manage to work at the same time. Well, I cannot help it but ask you the same question, since you have an even wider social presence than me, I think. What is your secret? (By the way, you may have noticed I have already started following you everywhere! ☺)

I love social media because I love interacting with people. I met so many interesting people on social media. I am personally active on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and all my profiles are public. I usually share things I am interested in, and bits of my own life without revealing intimate or private moments. So, if I post a selfie, there will usually be a story behind. Sometimes it can just be about showing people I’m happy and I love myself, and if it can help other women (even just one) loving themselves unapologetically, it makes me happy. I also post a lot about social justice issues, about freedom of expression, about women’s rights. I think social media can be a useful tool for creating one’s voice and empowering oneself and each other, to create solidarity, and to show the world that you (and people like you) exist, but not necessarily in a self-centred and narcissistic manner (while we can argue posting a selfie can be a narcissistic act, I am not interested in doing couch psychology and judging people). Also, people follow you on social media only if they want to. I don’t really care about being unfollowed, I am at peace with how I use social media. One thing that’s true though, it can eat your time up, and sometimes I do have the feeling that I am wasting a lot of time on social media, time I could use to write for example. But I think we’re all still learning how to use it the best way we can.

6.You have participated (and still do) in a few residencies for translators, in different countries. Could you tell us a bit about the experiences you have had and the benefits of being a Translator in Residence, in your opinion?

I love residencies. I have done a few, and I am currently doing one with La Contre Allée, a wonderful indie publisher in Lille, France. My first residency was with the Free Word Centre in London in 2013, and that truly changed my life. So many good friendships have started with this residency, and I am still working with many people I met during my time at Free Word. I am interested in residencies where you interact with local communities, not with residencies where you are given a room and space to write. I already have that in my home – life in Amsterdam is good and I am very privileged in that sense. If I travel to spend days, weeks or sometimes months somewhere else, I want to meet people, I want to learn from locals, from the different communities – with Free Word, it was about meeting all the wonderful organisations working around freedom of expression, but also with schools and more, in Senegal, I have learned from local artists, writers and musicians, but also from villagers on the impact of climate change, in Copenhagen I have interacted with academics and researchers working on topics about cities and culture, and in Lille, I am working with libraries, the city council, publishers… I learn from each one of them and I bring my own expertise too, it is a true exchange of ideas, knowledge and lots of fun too.

7.Although I could go on with the questions, let’s wrap up and find out who you pick to be our next Great Woman in Translation.

I want to nominate Marta Dziurosz, who was a translator in residence at Free Word Centre a couple of years after me. She is working in Polish and English. I especially love that she debunks the “native language” myth, which I’m sure she can tell you more about.

This blog and my translation podcast, TradTalk, were proudly chosen as the channels to officially launch ConVTI last month. Now the lovely organizers of this innovative event, Márcia Nabrzecki and Gio Lester, decided to kindly offer 1 free registration and a 20% discount to 10 of my followers as a sign of appreciation for our warm welcome. Isn’t that amazing?

If you missed the launch or does not even know what I am talking about, stop! Read about it here and feel free to watch/listen to the podcast interview (in Portuguese) here before proceeding. You can also visit the event’s website (link above) for more information. Also take the chance to connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Moving on to our lovely gifts…

Draw of 1 free registration

Fill out this brief form (also available on the bottom of this page) to join the draw. It’s that simple.

The draw will be held on August 14, 8 a.m. (EST). The lucky winner will be announced here on the blog, and the post will be shared on the event’s social media channels and mine.

20% discount to 10 followers

The first 10 followers who leave a comment below will win 20% of discount, paying only US$60. Ready, set, go!

Important: Should you be interested in the discount, leave a comment below even if you fill in the form for the draw and/or we reach 10 comments. Should the draw winner be one of the first 10 people to comment below, his/her discount will be transferred to the 11th commenter.

This is your chance to watch great talks by big names in translation, such as Paula Arturo, Jost Zetzsche, Kirti Vashee, Barry Olsen, from the comfort of your home sweet home (office) at a fraction of what you would spend with a usual conference. So don’t wait! Comment below and fill out the form.

Attention: You must be a translator, interpreter, dubber, subtitler, or other translation-related professional; or a student of any course related to any of these professions to participate. Comments and forms by random people will not be eligible to participate.

I do not like to romanticize our profession, saying, for example, that we have superpowers or the like. We do not. Our uniqueness and importance are the same as those of any other professional. Each one has their own relevance in their own areas. We have superpowers as much as doctors or teachers have: each one with their own value in their own area. We are not better than anyone.

However, I did come across a revelation these past few weeks – something I have not actually realized before – while translating product headlines of a major online retailer.

Have you ever bought anything from online retailers with English websites? Their product headlines and descriptions are horrendous, dreadful, hideous! They are a bunch of words bundled into a sentence with no connection whatsoever. And lots of mistakes. Argh!

Unfortunately, though, this is becoming increasingly common in English, in any field: contracts, business presentations, reports, etc. We are constantly faced with poorly-written texts to translate. I am sure you can totally relate with what I am saying, right?

My aim here is not to point fingers at anyone but to discuss our roles as translators. Do we transpose this horrible English into our own target languages? Never. Or at least we shouldn’t. I know I don’t. We try our best, sometimes working miracles, to understand the disastrous source and beautifully transform it into something – if not close to perfection – great in the target. After all, this is what we do. We craft fluent translations as if they were originally written in the target language, no matter how bad the source is.

And who gets all the credit for it? Most of the times, especially in technical translation, as is my case, the author, of course. We avoid misunderstandings, noises, and bad reputation. We facilitate communication not only by simply translating from one language to the other but also by improving the quality of the source.

Isn’t that beautiful? We praise ourselves for turning something ugly into something graceful. We love turning mistakes into clear sentences that flow easily. And I even dare say translations are usually way better texts than most of the original writings out there because our job is to perfect ourselves, day after day, translation after translation. Our job is to enable communication between languages and cultures, and to do so naturally.

So is the translator really a traitor? If anything, the translator definitely is the author’s best friend, godparent, carer – a trustworthy friend they can blindly count on whenever they have linguistic needs. If you have the right professional translator by your side, that is. 😉 If you do, make sure you cherish and value them because they are a rare find. If you don’t, it would be my greatest pleasure to help. 🙂 And if you are one: kudos to you and keep up the good work!

This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Ardizzone (nominated by Sophie Lewis), French to English literary translator.

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1. One of your translations worth noting here is the graphic novel Alpha, the story of a migrant desperately searching for his family (by Bessora, illustrated by Barroux). In this interview you gave to Authors Live, you say that in your career as a translator, this is the one book you were adamant had to be published, so you were very proactive in going to publishers to publish it. Why is that?

Because it tells the most pressing story of our times: that of human migration. Equally, a graphic diary penned by a fictional migrant, who embarks on a cruel odyssey from Ivory Coast to France, and aimed at everyone, from YA (young adult) readers to the grown-up literary market to Amnesty supporters, wasn’t the easiest sell: so I had to work hard to find the right publisher. Barrington Stoke proved just that publisher. They fell in love with Alpha when we ran a Spectacular Translation Machine event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2015. Which brings me to your next question…

2. Another of your translations worth noting is another graphic novel, Line of Fire. The original book in French originated “a groundbreaking new translation event” called the Spectacular Translation Machine. What was the event about and how was you experience with it?

Together with co-curator Daniel Hahn, and with the support of the British Centre for Literary Translation, we created the Spectacular Translation Machine at the Southbank Centre for the London Literature Festival 2013. The idea was simple: invite the general public to translate an entire book, as a collaborative and creative endeavour, across a couple of weekends. What better way of re-discovering and celebrating what it is that we think we do when we translate? Around the room, as if at an art gallery, we hung the images from Line of Fire (a graphic diary created by Barroux, who discovered in a skip the real handwritten diary of an unknown First World War French soldier). The public was invited to choose a picture to translate, before receiving the text that accompanied it – together with expert help on hand should they need support or want to talk ideas through. One picture alone received 17 translations… Most of all, people took the time to sit and weigh words with each other, to talk about why they made the subtle and nuanced choices they did, to solicit each other on how they could express a voice more ‘authentically’ or push a turn of phrase further or produce something fresh while avoiding infelicities or anachronisms…

3. What are the challenges and what is so fascinating about translating graphic novels, in your opinion?

Translating graphic novels can be very liberating, because the text tends to be stripped right down to the essentials. It can also mark a shift from more verbose and sometimes ‘fanciful’ literary translation to what you might call ‘urgent quality translation’. There are all sorts of other issues that come into play too, because I’m obeying two masters (pictures as well as words) whose creators in the case of Alpha both have one-name monikers beginning with B! Alpha is a fictional character but it’s an Everyman story, and as a translator that puts the wind in my sail.

4. Your real translation journey began with the translation of Daniel Pennac’s The Rights of the Reader. Can you describe your experience to us?

Well, Daniel Pennac is a master storyteller and thinker – so that’s a challenge in itself, in terms of conveying his originality into the English language. The way he expresses his ideas is so unique and so characterfully voiced that it’s as if he’s pushing the French language beyond its limits – there should be an adjective for it: Pennacian. With The Rights of the Reader he goes to the heart of why we are naturally beguiled by stories, when we are first told them, and why the education system risks making us fall out of love with them as readers. Trying to communicate Pennac’s ideas in English led to some of the most memorable editorial sessions I’ve ever experienced at my publishers, Walker Books.

5. You co-founded Translators in Schools, “a professional development programme to widen the pool of translators and teachers with the skills to run creative translation workshops in schools.” Could you tell us briefly how it works, your current role in it and your experience so far?

6.You are a judge and translation advisor of the In Other Words initiative, by BookTrust, “a new project to promote the translation and UK publication of outstanding children’s literature from around the world.” How are books shortlisted for the initiative, i.e. on what basis are they chosen to be translated?

We’re looking for exceptional children’s fiction for children aged 6 to 12 that has not yet been published in the English language. This year, we’re open to untranslated classics still within copyright as well as recent titles, and we welcome books written by authors of all backgrounds. The deadline for entries is 16th August – so please help spread the word. How do we choose which titles get shortlisted and have 10,000-word extracts translated? That’s the eye-opening bit, as well as the hard-graft. We work through 400 odd submissions, and consider which compelling stories, excellent writing and original, timeless or previously unheard voices stand out.

7. Now it is your turn. Who do you nominate to be our next interviewee?

Márcia Nabrzeckiand I, Gio Lester, have a lot in common. Besides being Brazilian and translators, we are also advocates, instructors, and mentors. Last year, a common friend brought us together and the result is a 2-day event that we believe will delight those who attend it.

I better tell you a bit about ourselves. My career in Translation and Interpreting started in 1980. Yes, I am a legacy professional and have witnessed and adapted to many changes over the years. I have also been an advocate for our professions: President of two Florida Chapters for the American Translators Association-ATA (2001-2003; 2011-2012; 2015), Director and also Interim Vice Chair for the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (2010-2013), mentor for members of ATA and also of its Brazilian counterpart, ABRATES, and currently I am also the Editor of The NAJIT Observer, a weekly online publication by the National Association of Judiciary Translators and Interpreters. Márcia started her career in 1995. Love for her profession led Marcia to engage in activities beyond translation projects. She is busy mentoring other professionals for Coletivo Identidade, a program that evolved from T&I events in Curitiba and spread to other cities in Brazil; she leads workshops and organizes events such as the monthly barcamps that also started in lovely Curitiba. Márcia manages to find time to lead Pro-Page, Traduções e Projetos, her own company. You can read more about us here.

So, after a few conversations and planning, we decided to throw a party at your place. Well, actually, a conference. Why, you may ask. Well, how many conferences have you missed this year? How many more are on your wish list? The truth is, regardless of origin, language and customs, we all share the desire to learn, grow and save.ConVTI ([//kon-vee-tee-eye//], in Portuguese, Congresso Virtual de Tradução e Interpretação) makes all three available to all of us.

Márcia and I feel the same way: earning continuing education credits, networking with colleagues, improving the quality of our services, etc. should not be a hardship. And we have a solution that makes use of modern technology to solve that issue – after all, this is the 21st Century!

Our professions have experienced exponential changes at different levels. Technology’s effects have been both negative and positive: clients expect a lot more from us in a shorter period of time but we have tools that help us work smarter; new market segments are open to us but the learning curve can be discouraging; there are incredible new tools out there but either cost, availability, compatibility, or something else are obstacles.

However, technology has reached a point that allows for presenters from all over the world to congregate on your laptop. And we have arranged just that for you: a great professional event with international talent, respected colleagues, best representatives in their specializations. ConVTI will fill in the gap between events, allow professionals to meet their certification requirements and learn from leaders in various segments. And the latest: HeadVox will be providing simultaneous interpreting for the live sessions.

We have put together a collection of top-notch T&I professionals to delight you. No divas. We wanted an even constellation of professionals who understand the changes in the market and what they mean to us.

Wherever you are, we promise you two event-filled days. On August 26, we will have four 1-hour presentations followed by a 90-minute panel on MT and interpreting technology. The day’s closing event is a live roundtable with all presenters. On August 27, we will have six 1-hour presentations and the closing is another live roundtable with all presenters. ConVTI will cover subjects ranging from the practical side of translation to the technical aspects of it, interpreting technology and changes in judicial interpreting, the business side of our profession, and we are working on bringing sign language interpreting into the offerings. Since Márcia and I do believe in equal opportunity learning, we have plans to have the presentations subtitled in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

And your wallet will be happy too: No airfare cost. No hotel cost. No meals cost – well, that will depend on you. Just take your mobile device to wherever you feel more comfortable and join us. A flat fee of $75 gives you access to the 2-day event. The presentations will be available for sale after the event.

Are your ready for a visit? Have your computers, laptops, cell phones or tablets at the ready. We are coming your way: August 26 and 27.

If you missed the webinar The Business of Being in Business – Part I: The Professional Side (free webinar to give you a taste of ConVTI), just click here to watch the video. And get ready for the second installment: The Business of Being in Business – Part II: The Commercial Side coming to you on June 24, at 8 am EST – check your local time on Time Buddy. Registration is now open, just click here.

Márcia has talked about the event (in Portuguese) for the TradTalk podcast. You can watch or listen to it here.

About the authorBrazilian-born Giovanna “Gio” Lester‘s career in translation and interpreting started in 1980. Gio is very active in her profession and in the associations she is affiliated with. She has held many volunteer administrative positions within various organizations related to our profession, and often speaks and writes on issues that affect us. As an international conference interpreter, Gio has been the voice of government heads and officials, scientists, researchers, doctors, hairdressers, teachers, engineers, investors and more. Gio has been a contributor to The NAJIT Observer since its inception in 2011, and its Editor since 2016. She can be reached at gio@giolester.com.